I have a set of video files created by a DVR fed by a set of surveillance cams. The DVR writes H.264 files. The software from the DVR's maker, installed on a Windows 7 instance, includes a tool to convert these H.264 files to AVI using I don't know what algorithm.

I created a set of files the other day (Halloween) and can play them all just fine on the DVR. I can download them to the Windows machine and convert them to AVI, and all the AVIs play just fine in Windows Media. I have moved the AVIs to my server and accessed them with my Mac, and the Mac plays them just fine in QuickTime and with the Finder's built-in video player (playing the thumbnails in the directory).

However, one particular file seems to have something wrong with it that only Final Cut Pro X can detect. When I choose to "Import Media" and look at the file list in FCP this particular file shows a duration with the nonsensical value of "00:37:24:19809". When I try to import it it never converts - the background "Analyzing/Transcoding" task just sticks at 0% eating up my CPU and never finishes. After a while it locks up and I have to kill FCP. I've tried re-downloading the H.264 from my DVR, tried re-converting it to AVI, tried moving new copies onto my server - nothing seems to fix this issue, and the only tool I have that seems to *have* an issue is FCP. I've wasted hours on this and it's driving me nuts.

All the other files (all 11 of them) from this set import just fine into FCP and show no issues whatsoever. Their durations look "normal".

Forgive me for being a newb, but... I don't have, nor can I find on the App Store, the Quicktime program I assumed you meant. I have QT Player, but it does not allow "Save as..." I remember QT Pro from a while back, but I can't find it on the App Store.

[Jeffrey Wells]"I've been playing with MPEGStreamclip, but I can't seem to find settings that don't turn this 170MB AVI into a 10GB file."

"SAVE AS..." is the function.
This changes the AVI container for a QT container, keeping the whole original video and audio information (codec included). There is not any kind of processing, so the stuff can not change in file size, quality, or whatever.

In MPGSTREAMCLIP "File" menu, you have the "Save as.." function and with a few option: MOV, MP4, AVI and DV.
Use MOV.
rafael